


Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

by Cam719, westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-26
Updated: 2009-09-26
Packaged: 2019-05-15 05:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 20,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14784306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cam719/pseuds/Cam719, https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: An AU ping pong challenge Cathy and I presented ourselves. We didn't let the other see the chapter before it was posted. It was written on the fly.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Air Force One

“Did you add a line about military pay raises?” Bruno asks… again. I think Toby’s going to take one of his arms off soon. Usually, Toby sics Bruno on Sam, but Sam stayed in D.C. for this trip so Toby has to deal with Bruno head on… It’s not going well. Toby can barely tolerate SAM making writing suggestions… BRUNO making writing suggestions?

Not good.

“Sure I did.” Toby replies. I think Toby was being sarcastic. Apparently so does Bruno.

“I’m not getting that sincere feeling from you on this.” Bruno states.

“Why ever would you think that I’m not being sincere with you on ANY topic, Bruno?” Toby asks sarcastically without even looking up from his laptop. God, I’m tired. I’m tired and bored and Sam isn’t even here so I’ve got nobody to give grief to for entertainment’s sake.

“Josh? Leo wants you to call him after the thing at the farm.” Donna tells me as she comes into the senior staff cabin and hands me a fistful of messages.

“Ah-kay,” I rifle through a few of them. Bo-Ring. Wait! Donna’s here! I can give Donna grief for entertainment’s sake. “What the hell does this one say?” I ask her, randomly holding up one of the messages.

“It says call your mother.” She replies.

“My mother?” I repeat.

“Yes, you remember her. Lovely Jewish lady, brown hair, brown eyes; lives in Florida,” She sasses me.

“What does she want me to call her for?”

“Presumably, she’d like to talk to you and hear about your life… such as it is.”

“I have a life.” I protest.

“Sure you do.” She mutters but I hear her… I just CHOOSE to ignore her.

“Why don’t you call my mother back? You can tell her all about my life. She likes you better than me anyway.”

“Most people do.” She points out.

“Fair point,” I acknowledge. “Hey, since you’re up anyway, how about getting me some coffee?”

Donna cuffs me on the back of my head with her file folder. “Get it yourself and call your mother.” She orders.

“I’m working here, Donna. Running a country is hard work!”

“You’re tired and bored and looking for someone to give grief to so you can be entertained. Since Sam isn’t here, that leaves me as your most likely target.”

“Toby’s here.” I jerk a thumb over to our Communication’s Director.

“Toby’s writing and you’re scared to bother Toby when he’s writing.” She declares and Toby snorts. Shit.

“Am not!” Okay, that wasn’t my best comeback.

“Call your mother.” She repeats as she walks for the door.

“I can’t. I had to get the new cell phone, remember? The new phone doesn’t have her number programmed in it and I can never remember her number.” Therefore, I can’t call her. See how well I can work that?

“It’s (555)232-8797.” Donna calls back to me before she closes the door. See how well she can work that?

I pick up the phone in the cabin and ask to be connected to (555) 232-8797. After I leave a message for the woman, who isn’t home because she has more of a social life than I do, I hang up to see Bruno smirking at me.

“What?” I demand to know the cause of the smirk.

“You are SO whipped.” He chuckles.

“Excuse me?”

“Donna tells you to jump and you do.” Bruno shrugs.

“Please. I’m bored, so I figured why not return one of my phone messages?” I explain and Bruno reaches over to take the other messages out of my hand with a snap. 

“Hey!”

“Let’s see… the chairman of the D triple C… Senator Wheeland’s office… Leo…” He’s flipping through my messages, “Congresswoman Doherty… and… your mother.” He smirks again. “You choose to call your mother. No, wait, DONNA chose for you to call your mother first, and after looking at the rest of your messages, you do what Donna told you to do… WHIPPED!”

“Whipped?” I repeat incredulously. “Donna is my assistant.”

“I’m familiar with her job title… and yours.” He adds snidely. “Maybe if you did something about it instead of just thinking about it all the time…”

“Did something about what?” I ask with trepidation.

“The… thing between you two.” Bruno states and I feel my heart drop into my stomach.

“Thing?” I ask in what I hope is a calm but confused manner. “What thing? There isn’t any thing.” I shake my head ‘no’ for emphasis.

“There’s most definitely a thing.” Bruno counters.

“No, there isn’t. There is NO thing.” I insist.

“Toby?” Bruno turns to our Communication’s Director.

“There’s a thing.” Toby confirms. Now I really feel sick. Does everybody think there’s a thing???

“I swear to God, Bruno, Donna and I… we’ve never even contemplated… we just…” I stammer.

“Believe me I know.” Bruno drawls. “There’s no way two people sleeping together would radiate that much sexual tension.”

“Hey!” I object. It’s not exactly fine oratory or debate but it’s the best I’ve got at the moment.

“Did you ever think that if you just asked the woman out, things might be a little less…volatile between you?” Bruno asks.

“Actually, I thought things might get MORE volatile… hold on. Did you ever think of the political ramifications of the Deputy Chief of Staff dating his senior assistant?” I toss back.

Bruno laughs. “Half of Washington thinks you’re sleeping together already. Have you seen any calls for your resignation? Any nasty op/ed pieces?”

“Half of Washington?” I shriek.

“Tell me something, Mr. Harvard and Yale. Who does Donna’s performance reviews?” Bruno inquires.

“Leo.” I answer.

“Who determines her raises?” He continues.

“Leo.” I repeat.

“Has anyone ever complained that the two of you were acting unprofessionally?”

“I do almost every day, but it’s got nothing to do with the sexual tension thing.” Toby chimes in and I stare at him in horror. “In fact, dating might improve the situation.”

“See?” Bruno shrugs again. I’m really starting to hate this guy. “There really wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I disagree… theoretically speaking.” I amend. “If I were to ask someone out that worked for me, that I might theoretically be interested in, I think it would cause MANY problems.”

“The only problem I can imagine is that she says ‘no’. Is that what you’re concerned about? That Donna might say ‘no’?” Damn Bruno Gianelli, he’s smirking again.

“Please… I have never had that experience, so I’d hardly let that possibility concern me.” I tell him, but my bravado is ruined by Toby laughing. I glare at him.

“I was just… writing something funny.” He explains, “A joke… about a farmer… or something.”

“Uh-huh.” He’s so full of shit. “It could cause PR problems when we’re in the middle of a campaign.”

“I already told you. Most of Washington already thinks you’re together.” Bruno reiterates.

“Half. You said half. Now it’s MOST of Washington?” This is really out of hand. Do you think this could have gotten started because I sent that memo out to Congressional members telling them to stay the hell away from my assistant?

“It DOESN’T. MATTER.” Bruno repeats. “I guess you’re just afraid to ask her out and that’s why you’re offering all these pathetic excuses.” He takes another sip of his coffee. I’m not entirely sure there isn’t something in the mug besides coffee. I’m not entirely sure Bruno isn’t just tired and bored and messing with me for entertainment’s sake.

“This has nothing to do with fear.”

“It has nothing to do with public relations. If it isn’t about fear of rejection, prove it. Ask her out.” He smirks again, and damn it that’s my job. There’s only room for one smirking, wise-ass, arrogant staffer and that role is currently being played by Josh Lyman.

Wouldn’t you know that Donna would pick THAT MOMENT to come back into the cabin?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I step into the senior staff cabin and the tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Six pairs of eyes swing over to me with different expressions. Toby’s eyes look curious, Josh’s eyes look shocked, and Bruno’s eyes look wicked. Something is going on here.

“Did you call your mother?” I ask Josh.

“Yeah, Josh did you do what Donna told you to do?” Bruno chimes in.

“She wasn’t home. I left her a message.” Josh replies quickly.

“See? Your mother has a social life.” I point out.

“Josh was just telling me he wanted a social life too.” Bruno adds. Who invited him to this conversation? Josh just growls. “He just had a great idea for how to get that started. Didn’t you Josh?”

“This I’ve GOT to hear.” I sit down next to Josh while he does an impersonation of a fish. What the hell?

“If you’re CONCERNED about speaking to Donna about this, you don’t have to.” Bruno smiles this sort of shark-like smile - Curiouser and curiouser.

“I am NOT concerned.” Josh states.

“Then I’m listening.” I offer.

“Well… it involves… dinner.” Josh begins hesitantly.

“Eating dinner would be a good idea, Josh. But I really don’t see how that constitutes a social life.” I tease.

“It would if I, you know, had dinner WITH somebody.” He defends himself.

“That would be a step in the right direction but…” I trail off at the strange look on his face.

“A woman… I’d have dinner with a woman… like a date.” He adds.

“Oh Lord, the LemonLyman ho’s got your cell phone number or something?” I guess.

“Is that the real reason you had to get a different cell phone?”

“NO! I told you why… No.” Josh shakes his head and stands up to pace. What is going on with him today? Finally, he stops pacing when he’s right in front of me and looks me in the eye.

“I wanted to ask… I was wondering if… God, Donna, do you have to look at me like that?” He says in exasperation.

“This is my normal ‘looking at you’ look, Joshua.” Sheesh!

“Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?” He asks very quickly. Bruno cackles, I swear.

“Won’t we have dinner on the plane? On the way back from Indiana?” I ask.

“Well, we could… or… we could have a late dinner - Back in Washington. Together...At my place.”

“We have to WORK when we get back from Indiana?” I nearly shout. Come on, I have precious little free time as it is.

“NO!” He starts pacing again. “This is NOT about work… at all. This is about me asking you out to dinner. We can have it at my place later… or at a restaurant if you’d prefer.”

“Like a dinner… date?” I confirm.

“Yes!” Josh nearly shouts now. “Was I not perfectly clear just now?”

“Almost inept, actually.” Toby offers and we both turn to glare at him. “Just ignore me over here.” We turn our heads in unison to Bruno who just keeps smiling and gives no pretense that he isn’t watching our little drama. I sigh and look back at Josh who’s  
watching me with trepidation.

“It will be pretty late when we get back.” I answer and see his shoulder droop.

“Right. Yes. Pretty late. No problem. Just… forget I ever said anything.” He backs away from me.

“No!” I stop his retreat. “I just meant that it will be pretty late when we get back to D.C. and maybe it would be better to just pick something up and bring it to your place?”

“Oh...! Sure… that’s fine. Great! I meant great. I’ll pick something up and we’ll have it at my place.” He confirms. I swear he’s almost as bad at this stuff as I am… and that’s saying something.

“So… it’s a date?” I repeat to make sure I haven’t misunderstood this whole thing.

“Ummmm…” Josh stammers until Toby clears his throat loudly. “Yes! Yes, it’s a date.” Josh continues backing out of the senior staff cabin, “Dinner… At my place… When we get back.”

“Josh?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you leaving right now?” I ask out of curiosity.

“I’m just going to talk to somebody about a… thing.” He replies. God, he’s so cute when he’s flustered.

“Okay.” I nod with my tongue in my cheek. “I’ll just stay here and get started on the notes for your call to the D triple C?”

“That would be good. Great. Excellent,” He confirms and leaves the cabin pretty quickly. What have I gotten myself into? Is this going to be a huge mistake? Maybe…but I’m not willing to let this chance go by when I’ve been waiting for this for SO long. I sit down and start putting note cards together. Ignoring Bruno’s Cheshire cat grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I close the staff cabin door behind me and let out a huge sigh of relief. That had to be one of the most humiliating conversations of my life and I had to have it in front of Bruno and Toby. I am so screwed. What have I gotten myself into? This could be a huge mistake. I’d walk right back in there now and tell her to just forget the whole thing, but I’ve been waiting for this chance for years. I’m not giving it up just when I’ve finally mustered the courage to ask her out. Okay, I’m not giving it up just when Bruno goaded me into asking her out.

I’m going on a date with Donna tonight. A date… With Donna… Unbelievable! Who’d have guessed when I got up this morning that today would be the day I asked Donna  
for a date; a real date with dinner and maybe a kiss goodnight. Wait a second! There might be a kiss at the end of our date. I might be kissing Donna at the end of the day!

Now I can’t think of anything else. I’m going to be useless to the President for the rest of the day.

The only problem I have right now is that I need to find somebody to talk to about something for a few minutes before I can go back into the cabin and face her again. I wonder if I can reach Sam.

TBC


	2. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

"Sam?"  
…  
…  
…

"Sam?!"

Where the hell is he? This is a freaking emergency!

"SAM PICK UP THE GOD DAMN PHONE!"

"Hmpfh? What? I'll be right in," Is his hasty answer.

What the hell is the matter with him?

"Sam, it's Josh." I pace the corridor of the plane anxiously, my eyes darting around to make sure no one's coming who can overhear me… and kill me.

"What's wrong?"

"Were you sleeping?"

"Yes!"

"What the hell are you sleeping for at 9 o'clock in the morning?" I demand.

"Leo's orders."

"Why on Earth would Leo…" Oh. Oops. "Sorry, buddy."

"I can sleep when I'm dead. What's the emergency?"

"I asked Donna out."  
…  
…  
…

"Sam?"

Nothing.

"Sam, did you go back to sleep?"

"I must have." He says. "It sounded like you said you asked Donna out."

"I did! To dinner!"

"You guys have dinner all the time."

"No. I clarified it was a date."

"YOU ASKED DONNA OUT ON A DATE!?"

"This is what I'm saying!"

"How did that happen?"

"You weren't here to entertain me."

"How can this possibly be my fault?"

"I can spin everything to be your fault, believe me."

"Unfortunately, you're very good at it."

"Thank you. What am I going to do?"

"Josh, I've had many odd conversations with you over the years about how you feel about Donna."

"That is SO not true!"

"What about the conversation when you told me you sabotaged her dates?"

"That we recon work."

"Uh-huh. And when you were all freaked out because Donna didn't get the NSA card and wouldn't be joining you in the bunker?"

"A bunker without Donna? Come on, how fun would that be?"

"Uh-huh."

"This is all circumstantial. "

"Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"I have absolutely no plans to take Cathy to Barbados."

"Hawaii."

"Exactly."

"Shit!"

"Josh…"

"What am I going to do?"

"You're going to go to dinner with Donna like you've wanted to do since the day you caught her answering your phone."

"I hardly think…"

"Josh, don't bother."

"Right." The senior staff cabin door opens and the object of my affection emerges.

"Gotta go." I say to Sam and snap my phone shut. She comes rushing up to me. She's so pretty.

I'm so screwed.

"Hey." I smile.

She doesn't say a word, but she grabs my wrist and yanks me behind another closed door, which ends up being some kind of supply closet. I say some kind because it's the smallest, tightest compartment on the plane. I mean, the bathrooms are twice this size. Hey, you don't think she wants to join the Mile High Club, do you?

"Do you feel okay?" she demands.

I'm feeling okay about joining the Mile High Club. In fact, I'm feeling pretty damn good about it!

"What?"

"You're acting very bizarre and I just want to make sure you're feeling okay." She says, she puts her hand up to my forehead and damn if she doesn't look pretty concerned. I gently remove her hand and bring them down between us, but instead of letting go, I entwine our fingers.

"I feel really good." I say softly and she smiles.

"Yeah?"

"Of course!" I laugh.

"It's just that…"

"It was unexpected." I fess up. "In my life, I didn't imagine asking you out in front of Toby and Bruno."

"Bruno keeps looking at me now. It's kind of… dirty."

"You don't have to go back in there."

"Well, where else am I going to sit?"

"We'll find somewhere else."

"Don't you have to go back in there?"

"And watch Toby have a brain hemorrhage? No."

"Where are we going to go?"

"Right here's nice." I smile and lean towards her a bit. I think I can convince her to join the Mile High Club.

"It's a cramped closet."

"But you're here and it's nice." I say, moving slowly towards her lips. I'm just about to make contact when the door flies open. We jump apart and Donna slams her head on a shelf and yelps. There's an airman standing there with an arched brow.

"Hi!" I say.

"Sir." He nods and then looks at Donna, who's frowning and rubbing her head. "Ma'am."

Suddenly, I don't want him to get the wrong idea about Donna. I don't want him to think we were getting ready to join the Mile High Club.

"It's not what it looks like." I say immediately.

"Josh!" Donna yelps.

"Of course not, sir." The airman says.

"No, it's not. She just pulled me in here…"

"Joshua!"

"…because we needed to be somewhere where we wouldn't get overheard."

"I understand, sir."

He so doesn't believe me.

I step out of the closet and tug Donna with me. He goes about getting whatever he needs from the tiny closet and I lead Donna to an empty couch a few feet away. When we sit down, I gently rub the back of my head and she smiles at me. She looks almost shy. We're acting very… well, downright normal for us actually.

"Still hurt?" I ask.

"Not really." She replies looking me right in the eye.

"This is an odd flight."

"Are you saying the altitude is making you do things you wouldn't normally do?"

DANGER! How the hell did THAT happen?

"No." I say quickly. "But something's definitely doing something to me."

She smiles and deliberately blinks. "Yeah."

I sit back against the cushions and she takes my cue. I idly stroke her leg with my fingertip and my eyes are trained on my finger while I do.

"I know it was unexpected, and I never intended to do something like that in front of an audience, but I'm really glad you said yes."

When I meet her eyes, she's staring at me intently. "I'm really glad you asked." She whispers softly.

I don't think I can take her looking at me like that all day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Josh needs to stop touching me.

I don't mean that the way it sounds.

Actually, there's no other way to interpret that, and I actually don't ever want Josh to stop touching me, but doing it here might be an issue.

We've gone into hiding on the plane. We're back with the rest of the staff in the last row in the back of the cabin. This is actually the cabin I'm supposed to sit in, but Josh always brings me up by him in the senior staff cabin, which is a lot more comfortable, but it currently contains Toby, who's losing his mind; Bruno, who's looking at me in a skeevy, greasy way; and CJ, who would drop kick Josh out of the plane for sure if she saw any of this.

It's nothing too incriminating. We're just sitting in our respective seats talking idly, but it's just an excuse to sit close to each other and find reasons to touch each other. If I weren't so over the moon right now, I think I'd want to hurl if I witnessed this.

I can't believe Josh asked me out. Can it actually be considered a date if it's an extremely late night dinner at his place? For it to be a date, do you actually have to GO somewhere? Well, I guess technically speaking I'm going somewhere; I'm going to  
Josh's. And we did make sure it was clear that it was in a date capacity.

I wanted to make that crystal clear before I went over there. First of all, it's going to drastically change what I wear… or don't wear. Secondly, if it's a date, there can be kissing.

There almost was kissing if it wasn't for that pinhead airman!

That reminds me, it's time for Josh to touch me again.

I quietly put my hand up and rub the back of my head, which is actually sore, but my hand is immediately replaced by Josh's, gently stroking the injured part of my head.

Don't look at me like that. I'm totally injured! I lean back into the seat before he drops his hand and now it's got nowhere to go but my shoulder.

How slick am I, huh?

I shift a little to get more comfortable and turn my head to look at Josh. He's looking back at me and smiling softly as his finger starts drawing small circles on my shoulder.

Is it tonight yet?

TBC


	3. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

“You did that on purpose!” Toby roars while the President smirks.

“If only I’d learned that skill at the London School of Economics.” President Bartlet replies. Now, I don’t think he’s capable of purposefully elevating his blood pressure so Toby can’t be in his sightline during the speech, but if he could…

“This is an important speech.” Toby ignores the President’s sarcasm. The President turns to me. “I thought you said we’re going to lose Indiana.”

“We are, Mr. President.” I predict.

“Then what the hell does it matter? We turn out some voters for down ticket races and get the hell out of Dodge.” The President declares.

“Mr. President.” Toby gathers his breath and his argument. “This is an important litmus test for the speech. I need to be there to gauge reaction and make revisions going forward.”

“It’s not my rule.” The President shrugs and winks at me as he walks out past us. It may not be HIS rule, but the President is certainly glad it’s *A* rule today. I follow him down the stairs of Air Force One and head for the motorcade. She won’t be in the limo with us, but you’re a fool if you don’t think I know where she is at every moment. I have what you might call Donna GPS.

“…after that, Josh?” I tune into the President’s question just a little too late.

“I’m sorry, sir?”

“You seem a little distracted, Josh,” The President notes.

“It’s not you, sir, he’s distracted by thoughts of his hot date this evening.” Toby quips. I’m sure he thinks this is payback for SOMETHING, but I really don’t know what I’ve done lately.

Toby’s announcement causes the President to stop in his tracks and grab my arm.

“Please tell me it is NOT with Amy Gardner.”

“Amy? No, sir,” I assure him.

“Good.” President Bartlet lets out a breath and walks the short distance to the limo.

“Don’t you want to know who his date is with?” Toby presses and Bruno chuckles.

“No,” The President replies. Thank God.

“I want to hear who his date is with.” CJ notes as she joins us. “Tell me it’s not Amy Gardner.”

“It’s not. What is with everyone and Amy Gardner?” I ask.

“She was clearly all wrong for you on several levels.” CJ explains. “Why can’t men see what’s in front of them?” She asks. I’m thinking it’s rhetorical since she is surrounded at the moment by an all male contingent.

“His date is with Donna.” Toby supplies and now it’s CJ’s turn to freeze in her tracks just outside the limo.

“Excuse me?” She asks for the information again; directly from me. I give Bruno a nasty look. He TOLD me this would be no problem. Apparently, he wasn’t speaking for the entire group.

“I… invited Donna over for dinner.” I hedge.

“Oh.” She puts a hand to her chest in relief. “You guys do that all the time.”

Okay, now I have a choice. I can let it go with her obviously misinterpreting the situation and pay for it later. Or I can fess up now and count on the fact that the Secret Service will step in before she actually, you know, kills me.

“No, this is different.” Bruno argues. “He made it very clear this was an actual date and that he’d take her anywhere she wanted for dinner, but Donna referred to have dinner at his place.”

I guess I forgot option number three; somebody else shoots off their mouth. I quickly duck into the limo and seat myself directly next to the President. She can’t hurt me if I’m sitting directly next to the President. That’s my plan at the moment. You have to think fast in politics.

“Now? You had to do this now?” She yells and hits me repeatedly once she takes a seat on the other side of me - So much for my plan.

“Yes, I did.” I insist. “It was time; it was overdue really.”

“Bruno practically dared him.” Toby pipes up again. What the hell is his problem today?

“Wait. What?” CJ asks. “Not only do you pick now to ask Donna out but you only do it because you were dared?”

“No!” I protest. “I asked Donna out because I wanted to… Bruno was incidental.”

“You asked Donna out?” The President asks me.

“Uh… yes, sir.” I admit, unsure where he stands on this issue. I’d be delighted for him to continue to be kept in the dark. No such luck.

“It’s about damn time.” The President mutters.

“Sir!” CJ objects.

“It’s not a thing, CJ.” Bruno tells her. “If anything comes up, which I sincerely doubt it will, the campaign will take the question.”

CJ doesn’t respond, but I can tell she isn’t mollified. Hell hath no fury like a Press Secretary out of the loop.

“CJ…” I begin, thinking about a preemptive strike here.

“I’m supposed to be your first call, moron.”

“Dad… CJ’s calling me names.” I respond and make the President laugh.

“Maybe we could take your blood pressure again when we get to the event, sir.” Toby suggests. “You seem very calm and relaxed at the moment.”

“I’m sure a few minutes in the car with you and these two,” The President jerks his thumb at me and CJ, “will take care of that in no time.”

“Mr. President, maybe now would be a good time to address the issue of inserting a line or two about military pay raises in your speech at the Naval Warfare Center.”

“I don’t think I can concentrate on my speech at the Warfare Center when I’m dying to find out about Josh’s plans for this hot date,” The President jokes.

“Mr. President…” Bruno tries again.

“I’m not campaigning at the Warfare Center.” President Bartlet states unequivocally.

“What’s next?”

“The farmer joke… I don’t know if you should really use it.” Toby admits.

“It’ll be fine,” The President waves off his concern. “I can take second rate material, and with only my oratory skills raise it to a whole new level of excellence. I may have to adlib a bit but…” Toby groans and the rest of us laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I close my eyes as the motorcade travels to the farm where the President will be giving his address. I can still feel Josh’s fingers caressing my head and running through my hair. This is going to be a long day. Like Christmas Eve when you’re waiting and waiting  
for Santa to come with the present you’ve been dreaming of all year long.

I open my eyes when the motorcade comes to a complete stop and people start piling out of cars. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear we were at some farm in Wisconsin. There’s a huge event here with tons of people waiting to see and hear the President - but other than that… we’re surrounded by fields on all sides, that look to go on for miles. I don’t want to spoil anybody’s farm girl fantasies or anything, but I’ve never liked farms. They’re remote and smelly and there’s nothing to do on them besides work your ass off. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all the things that farmers grow for us, I’d just prefer not to be there while they did it.

I get out of the van and unerringly pivot to where Josh is standing. He gives me a little smile and cocks his head to let me know he wants me to join him. So I hurry over to where he’s standing. What? It’s my job, people! There’s no ulterior motive to… well, very little ulterior motive to my actions.

“Does all this just make you terribly nostalgic for home?” He teases and I stick my tongue in my cheek while I formulate a response.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?”

“Just a little bit,” He replies and after we take a couple steps away from the others, his hand reaches out and grabs mine, holding it firmly in his. The electric sparks shoot up my arm and through my body in seconds, making me shiver.

“Are you cold?”

“The wind just got me for a second.” I lie without hesitation. If Josh knew I was this affected by his holding my hand, the ego would grow exponentially. I just can’t risk that.

“Listen, Toby and I need to meet with Cathy for a few minutes during the speech, but I don’t want to be at her mercy indefinitely so come rescue me after about 15-20 minutes, okay?”

“This is the farmer’s daughter?” I ask.

“She wants to speak to us about farm subsidies.” Josh rolls his eyes.

“It’s an important issue, Josh.” I remind him.

“Yes, but it isn’t going to change the map in Indiana, so…”

“I know this is hard for you to believe, Joshua, but not EVERYTHING has to be about re-election.”

“Right now it kind of does, Donnatella.” He smiles at me when he argues with me and his dimples pop out. I could so jump him right now. “Well, I guess not everything…” He amends and leans a little closer to me where we’re standing waiting for the President to  
be introduced.

Suddenly, CJ bursts in between us. “Donna, I just heard the news…about your date.”

My eyes fly over to Josh who has closed his eyes. This can’t be good.

“It’s just dinner, CJ.” I try to downplay it and Josh’s eyes snap open. I give a tiny shake of my head to clue him in that I’m just saying that for CJ’s sake.

“Frankly, I’m surprised you agreed to even that considering the circumstances.”

“Circumstances?” I repeat puzzled by her choice of words.

“Asking you in front of Toby and Bruno,” Josh quickly responds and tries to take my hand again to lead me away.

“Well that too, but I meant the dare.” CJ says matter-of-factly. Dare?

“What dare?”

“Toby said Bruno dared him to ask you out.” CJ scoffed. “Under those circumstances I wouldn’t go across the street for coffee with him, but you’ve always been far more forgiving than me.” She states and leaves us standing on the edge of the field without  
another word.

“You asked me out on a dare?” I ask him, begging to have him contradict the story.

“It wasn’t exactly a dare…” He begins and I drop his hand.

“Not exactly? What exactly was it then?”

“It was a…discussion about asking you out. That’s all.” He says, but he’s got that look that says he isn’t telling me the whole story. I’ve been waiting all this time for him to notice me, to take a step over the line and tell me was interested in more than just friendship with me and my ‘dream date’ turns out to be a dare between a couple of immature school boys???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Did I not tell you that hell hath no fury like a Press Secretary out of the loop? This was too much, though, even for CJ being pissed. Donna looks seriously hurt.

“Bruno thought he was daring me, but really once he told me that there’d be no political ramifications to our going out, he didn’t need to say another word.” I explain; only I must have explained poorly because now she looks like she’s going to cry.

“Political ramifications?” She repeats. Oh. That’s where I blew it this time.

“Not political ramifications per se, just…” She turns on her heel and leaves me standing on the gravel path at the edge of the event site. This has to be a new record for me. I got a woman to dump me between asking her out and the actual, you know, date. It takes talent and skill to pull that off, I’m telling you… and a little help from my friends.

My eyes burn holes in the back of CJ’s head until she turns around to look at me and realizes she may have overplayed her hand here. I will be dealing with that soon, I assure you, but for now, I need to clear this up with Donna.

I find her in the barn helping volunteers fold and stuff campaign literature into envelopes to hand out after the event. She doesn’t look over at me even though I know that she knows I’m here.

“Donna, could I speak to you a minute please?”

“I’m a little busy here, Josh.”

“Yeah, but the six year old standing behind you could take over the folding of the papers for a couple minutes, right?” I beam a smile at the little girl behind Donna and she smiles back with a grin that’s missing two front teeth. At least my charm is working  
on one woman in the room. “Please?”

“You need to meet with Toby and Cathy.”

“I will, but first I need to talk to you. You are more important.” My prioritization seems to have done the trick and she walks out of the barn with me. I don’t reach for her hand again yet, because I’m not entirely sure she wouldn’t cut if off or something. We turn the corner so that we’re on the back-side of the barn and have some privacy.

“It wasn’t the way CJ made it sound.” I begin. “Yeah, Bruno was goading me a little bit, but honest to God, Donna, I wouldn’t have asked you out to prove a point to Bruno.”

She looks directly into my eyes like she’s trying to assess the veracity of my statement.

“I’ve wanted to ask you out for a long time.” I admit. “But I didn’t want to do anything that would end up with your name in the press in some sordid story or bring a scandal to the President’s door. When Bruno convinced me we could date without either of those things happening, THAT’S what motivated me to ask you out, not any dare Bruno concocted.”

“Really?” She asks.

“I swear.” I raise my right hand and she nods her acceptance of my word.

“You’d better go find Cathy.” She advises me.

“In a minute,” I tell her and pull her a little closer to me. “I don’t think I can wait for our date tonight for this.” I explain quietly and tilt my head toward hers and give her a chance to pull back if she wants to. It doesn’t appear that she does because she meets me halfway and our lips touch once, twice, and then bam! They fuse together and my arms are pulling her closer and closer to me. I have never had a kiss feel this amazing before. And this is just kissing! If we’re this good at the kissing, can you imagine…? I need to get myself on a different train of thought before I’m unfit to be scene out in public.

“I should… go find Toby… and Cathy…” I murmur between kisses.

“You… really should.” She agrees but her arms tighten around me in direct contradiction to what her mouth is saying. And can I just mention what an incredible  
mouth she has?

“Okay, then.” I step back with obvious regret and if my face is as flushed as hers, I’d better take a couple laps around the barn before I go join Toby and Cathy.

“Hurry,” She tells me with a pout.

“Yeah, I’ll hurry. Look, we just have the stop at the Warfare Center and then we jet back home - Just a few more hours until we can… have dinner.” I tell her.

“I’m looking forward to… dinner.” She smirks. It’s a good look for her, but then I think they’re all good looks for her. “And you might want to apologize to CJ for whatever you did before she decides to wreak more havoc on you.”

“Excellent suggestion,” I agree. “Don’t forget to come get me in 20 minutes.”

“I won’t.” She promises. This day is going to be interminable.

TBC


	4. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

CJ's eyes widen as she sees me coming in her direction. Yeah, you better hide, babe. I see her look around for a quick distraction, but seeing none, she lets out a breath and stands there waiting for me.

"Why on EARTH would you tell me that, CJ?" I demand as soon as I'm within striking distance.

"I thought you should know." She says holding up her hands.

"You only had half the information!"

"That seems to be the case."

"Do you not want me to go out with Josh? Do you think it's a bad idea?" I ask hesitantly.

"Other than being surprised that ANY woman can put up with him for an extended period of time…" she immediately falls back to what she calls her wit, but seeing my death glare cuts herself off. "Okay, yes. He can be very sweet, I can't deny that." I cross my arms and continue to glare. "He's a slightly brilliant politician, that's also tough to argue with." I arch a brow at her. "And he quite obviously delights in every minute in your presence."

"Well okay then. If he's so great, what's wrong with me?" I challenge. Her eyes grow the size of saucers again.

"Nothing!" she yelps.

"Well, if it's not him, it's got to be me then right?" I demand.

"Wow, you're really good at the spin thing, Donna."

"I learned from the best."

"Thanks."

"I MEANT JOSH!" I shriek.

"Oh… right." She says. "Donna, you are a super smart, beautiful, caring, FORGIVING woman, who is so much more than a valued friend to me. You're like another sister."

Okay. That's tough to retaliate against, "Really?" I smile.

"Nobody on the staff can hold a candle to you." She rushes, seeing I'm letting her out of the penalty box. "And you're my go-to girl on everything. That's very valuable in a friend!"

"Well, so are you." I reluctantly confess and sweep my hand towards her before crossing my arms again.

"I'm REALLY sorry. I underestimated what that information would do and I've vastly underestimated the talent of your mind. It's now glaringly obvious  
why, you know, Josh does everything you say."

"You would do well to remember that." I say squinting my eyes and pointing my finger at her in warning. She nods her head complacently.

During this action, I catch sight of my watch. "Shit! I was supposed to save Josh five minutes ago."

"What? We're getting ready to go."

"I'll get Josh and Toby from the soy fields."

"Well, what can go wrong with Josh and Toby in the soy fields?" she rolls her eyes and I smile back and turn away. I wander out to the fields where I saw them go earlier. I can see them in the distance. Josh is walking with Cathy, the farmer's daughter, while Toby intermittently waves his arms. I imagine he's got issues with the President's speech. It was a high blood  
pressure day and Toby was banned from the President's line of sight. Though why he thought coming way out here was the thing to do…

Josh smiles at me when he sees me approach and I can't help but smile back. What I really want to do is run up to him, throw my arms around his neck and get another one of those kisses because… damn, sir!

"They're wrapping up. Let's go." I say and turn back around. I idly listen to Cathy tell Josh about subsidies and the farmer's need for help. Josh tells  
her we already lost Indiana. Good one, sweetie. Guess we won't have her vote!

We weave through the buses and I pick up our pace a bit. But suddenly, I see something not at all comforting… actually, it's what I DON'T see that is  
beginning to instill panic in me.

The motorcade.

It's not where we left it.

"Hold on." I say stopping dead in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" Josh asks.

"Where is it?"

He follows my line of sight and his jaw drops, "Holy shit." He whispers and turns to a woman passing by to ask where the motorcade is. She points way off in the distance and we see it driving away.

"Hey!" he yelps and starts jumping up and down trying to… I don't really know what he thinks that is going to accomplish, but Toby likewise seems to think it's a good idea and joins in. I'm more practical and pull out my cell phone trying to flag it down by other means. Come on Charlie… answer the phone… shit. It's his voice mail. I disconnect from that and try Carol…  
then Ginger… since when does everyone shut their freaking phones off in the motorcade?!

Maybe if it were Josh's number calling…

"Where's your phone?" I ask turning to him. He arches a brow at me, "The stew."

"Yesss," He hisses and I arch an `Oh no you just did not' brow back at him.

"What stew?" Toby demands.

"The she-devil threw it in stew and he hasn't gotten a new one yet." I drone.

"Your taste in women has drastically improved." Toby says to Josh.

"Give me yours then." I say to Toby holding out my hand.

"It's in the motorcade." Toby says pointing off to the distance.

"WHY!?" Josh shrieks.

"Ginger's got it. She started confiscating it during speeches so I couldn't call and bitch at her."

The perky little Cathy comes over and promises to give us a ride the airport in her truck. I look over at Toby and Josh and smile sweetly, "Shotgun."

TBC


	5. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

CJ's eyes widen as she sees me coming in her direction. Yeah, you better hide, babe. I see her look around for a quick distraction, but seeing none, she lets out a breath and stands there waiting for me.

"Why on EARTH would you tell me that, CJ?" I demand as soon as I'm within striking distance.

"I thought you should know." She says holding up her hands.

"You only had half the information!"

"That seems to be the case."

"Do you not want me to go out with Josh? Do you think it's a bad idea?" I ask hesitantly.

"Other than being surprised that ANY woman can put up with him for an extended period of time…" she immediately falls back to what she calls her wit, but seeing my death glare cuts herself off. "Okay, yes. He can be very sweet, I can't deny that." I cross my arms and continue to glare. "He's a slightly brilliant politician, that's also tough to argue with." I arch a brow at her. "And he quite obviously delights in every minute in your presence."

"Well okay then. If he's so great, what's wrong with me?" I challenge. Her eyes grow the size of saucers again.

"Nothing!" she yelps.

"Well, if it's not him, it's got to be me then right?" I demand.

"Wow, you're really good at the spin thing, Donna."

"I learned from the best."

"Thanks."

"I MEANT JOSH!" I shriek.

"Oh… right." She says. "Donna, you are a super smart, beautiful, caring, FORGIVING woman, who is so much more than a valued friend to me. You're like another sister."

Okay. That's tough to retaliate against, "Really?" I smile.

"Nobody on the staff can hold a candle to you." She rushes, seeing I'm letting her out of the penalty box. "And you're my go-to girl on everything. That's very valuable in a friend!"

"Well, so are you." I reluctantly confess and sweep my hand towards her before crossing my arms again.

"I'm REALLY sorry. I underestimated what that information would do and I've vastly underestimated the talent of your mind. It's now glaringly obvious why, you know, Josh does everything you say."

"You would do well to remember that." I say squinting my eyes and pointing my finger at her in warning. She nods her head complacently.

During this action, I catch sight of my watch. "Shit! I was supposed to save Josh five minutes ago."

"What? We're getting ready to go."

"I'll get Josh and Toby from the soy fields."

"Well, what can go wrong with Josh and Toby in the soy fields?" she rolls her eyes and I smile back and turn away. I wander out to the fields where I saw them go earlier. I can see them in the distance. Josh is walking with Cathy, the farmer's daughter, while Toby intermittently waves his arms. I imagine he's got issues with the President's speech. It was a high blood pressure day and Toby was banned from the President's line of sight. Though why he thought coming way out here was the thing to do…

Josh smiles at me when he sees me approach and I can't help but smile back. What I really want to do is run up to him, throw my arms around his neck and get another one of those kisses because… damn, sir!

"They're wrapping up. Let's go." I say and turn back around. I idly listen to Cathy tell Josh about subsidies and the farmer's need for help. Josh tells her we already lost Indiana. Good one, sweetie. Guess we won't have her vote!

We weave through the buses and I pick up our pace a bit. But suddenly, I see something not at all comforting… actually, it's what I DON'T see that is beginning to instill panic in me.

The motorcade.

It's not where we left it.

"Hold on." I say stopping dead in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" Josh asks.

"Where is it?"

He follows my line of sight and his jaw drops, "Holy shit." He whispers and turns to a woman passing by to ask where the motorcade is. She points way off in the distance and we see it driving away.

"Hey!" he yelps and starts jumping up and down trying to… I don't really know what he thinks that is going to accomplish, but Toby likewise seems to think it's a good idea and joins in. I'm more practical and pull out my cell phone trying to flag it down by other means. Come on Charlie… answer the phone… shit. It's his voice mail. I disconnect from that and try Carol…then Ginger… since when does everyone shut their freaking phones off in the motorcade?!

Maybe if it were Josh's number calling…

"Where's your phone?" I ask turning to him. He arches a brow at me, "The stew."

"Yesss," He hisses and I arch an `Oh no you just did not' brow back at him.

"What stew?" Toby demands.

"The she-devil threw it in stew and he hasn't gotten a new one yet." I drone.

"Your taste in women has drastically improved." Toby says to Josh.

"Give me yours then." I say to Toby holding out my hand.

"It's in the motorcade." Toby says pointing off to the distance.

"WHY!?" Josh shrieks.

"Ginger's got it. She started confiscating it during speeches so I couldn't call and bitch at her."

The perky little Cathy comes over and promises to give us a ride the airport in her truck. I look over at Toby and Josh and smile sweetly, "Shotgun."

TBC


	6. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

I’m not sure exactly what God is punishing me for today, but after having to watch and listen to Josh and Donna for the past half hour, I’m sure I have paid for the sin and then some. One thousand yards; it doesn’t sound like a terribly long ways away, does it? Cathy said the gas station was only about 1,000 yards away; ten football fields. No problem, right? Well, we barely get out of the truck we were hitching a ride from that ran out of gas, I mean bio-diesel, when Donna started asking very pointed questions about wholesome, blond farm girls. Yes, it got ugly for a while. Josh, with his fairly good debate skills wormed his way out of that one, but it lasted long enough to give me a raging headache.

When we finally arrived at the gas station, the ignorant, jackass owner doesn’t even want us waiting there so we stay outside in the hot sun and bake until our ride arrives. I only mention this because under any other circumstances I would have never engaged in a bet with Josh Lyman, which now requires that I introduce myself to everyone I meet as “I’m Toby Ziegler; I work at the White House”.

So when this kid from the campaign office pulls up in his jeep, I practically leap into it to escape.

“I’ve got an extra water bottle, Toby.” Donna offers and after a moment’s hesitation I take it from her. Donna’s a good kid. What she sees in Josh I’ll never know. But there they sit in the backseat together, hands wandering places that I want no knowledge of. I keep my eyes carefully trained on the  
road in front of us… until Josh decides to start trouble. He goes on and on about the new speeches and the change in direction of the campaign.

“You and Bruno and the President are calling audibles!” He complains.

“That's because we're coming to the line and we're seeing a hairdo from Florida in pass coverage and so that's where we want to put the ball...What's your concern?” I shoot back and hear Donna sigh.

“I have any number of concerns, not the least of which is we'll lose.”

“I don't think so.” I toss back and I don’t. I think Josh is more concerned about being out of the loop than a change in strategy.

“When did we decide to make this about being the smartest kid in the class? What meeting did I miss?” Josh asks. I want to say, ‘Just one where the President nearly threw me out of the building’ but I restrain myself.

“Tyler, why are we slowing down?” Donna asks from the backseat.

“I just need to pull over for one minute.” He informs us and my eyes narrow when I see three girls walking with their bikes on the side of the road this can’t be good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No, no, no… this can’t be happening. Tyler is getting into what appears to be a plea for the attention of the love of his life and she is rejecting him. In the meantime, we are just minutes away from the airport where Air Force One is due to take off in 15 minutes. I jump out of the jeep and try to run interference but then… Josh helps; or thinks he’s helping. One sentence and he’s gotten into an abortion debate with a few teenage girls. How can he do that so fast?

Then one of the girls deals us a fatal blow. All times are local - Daylight saving time. Air Force-One has already left! No wonder I can’t get anyone to answer their cells; talk about being out of the calling area! I start to panic but it is NOTHING to the reaction from my guys. I think Tyler is contemplating just driving away without us when he sees Josh and Toby having their own individual nutties over missing the plane ride home. I have to say, I don’t blame him.

“Josh…” I call his name softly… “JOSH!” That got his attention. “Take a breath and calm yourself. It’s true that we missed the flight back, but that doesn’t mean we’re stuck in Indiana forever.”

“I can’t TELL you what relief that is.” He snarks. I think he’s blaming me for the time change thing and that’s hardly fair. If he hadn’t been loitering in the soybean field with the wholesome, but not too wholesome, farmer’s daughter we’d never have missed the motorcade to begin with!

“We’re going to get in the jeep, get to the train station and take the train to a commercial airport where I will then use your gold card to purchase tickets to fly home.” I explain but he’s still pacing and behind me I can hear Toby ranting and hitting things with a branch of some kind; but he’s not my problem right now.

“We’re supposed to be flying back home RIGHT NOW!” Josh explodes.

“I know.” I say calmly, hoping it’s contagious. In case you were wondering?

It’s not.

“We are supposed to be flying home now so we can get through a horrendous day of meetings before we go back to my place to have what I was hoping would be an incredible first date!”

Wow. I think of all that’s gone wrong today and contemplate the idea that what bothered Josh most about all of it is that our date might be canceled? I think I’m pretty flattered.

“Josh…”

“What?!”

“We’ll still have our first date.” I promise and his eyebrows go up. “We might have to have it at a restaurant in the Indianapolis airport, but we’ll still have our dinner date, okay?”

“Yeah… okay.” He nods and takes a deep breath, “The train station?”

“The train station to the airport and then home.”

“Sure… what could go wrong?” He quips and throws his arm around my shoulder. He calls to Toby as we pass him. “Toby! Come on or we’re going to miss the train too.”

“Hey, there’s a great place for food on the way.” Taylor tells us. “We could get some food to go so you’re not starving on the trip.” He offers and I give him a smile. I think the kid has a bit of a crush on me since I consoled him after the disastrous run in with Kiki. Kiki, for God’s sake!

“Sound good.” I tell him and turn to Josh. “You’d better call Sam and farm your day out to him.”

“He’s supposed to have the day off to catch up on his sleep.” He reminds me.

”Have you got a better idea?” I throw back and hand him my cell phone so he can make the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pass the phone back to her and she gives me a look. 

“What?”

“Mean school girls?” She repeats, “Alpha girls?”

“You know, Donna, it occurs to me that half the trouble we’ve been having today is directly related to you listening to conversations that didn’t include you.” I point out and instantly regret it. “What I mean is, I was just, you know, talking to Sam. I felt bad about waking him up and asking him to staff the President so I may have exaggerated a bit. You’re familiar with that technique, right? Overstating things a bit?” I tease and see her lips twitch.

“I may have some familiarity with that.” She allows and my lips twitch. God, I love this woman! Whoa! Did I just say that? I don’t think so. Donna’s expression hasn’t changed and I think it would if I’d said that out loud. But I did mean it even if I didn’t say it out loud. I’m going to have to add this bit of information to the plan already forming for our first date. Wait. That might be a little much for our first date. Second date? Hmmmm… I’ll ask Toby if I get a chance to speak to him alone… after his face turns from its current shade of purple to it’s normal shade of red.

“Tyler, food and a train?” I ask and help Donna into the jeep. Really it’s just an excuse to touch her in public, but what the hell?

“Yes, sir.” He agrees and puts us in motion once Toby drops resignedly into the front seat.

“I want AIR FORCE ONE!” He shouts to nobody in particular.

“Feel better there buddy?” I ask.

“Marginally. Hey, you’re stranded in Indiana too. Why the hell are you so damn chipper?”

“I’ve got a date to look forward to this evening… even though we don’t have a location for it quite yet.” I share a grin with Donna and put my arm around her shoulder again. She leans into me and it feels so right.

“Have you ever loved someone so much that it hurts? Physically hurts?” Tyler asks Toby.

“Shut up and drive, kid.” Toby order and leans forward to hold his head in his hands. We’re going to have to get that man some food and possibly alcohol of some kind.

TBC


	7. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

I switch seats on the train to sit next to Donna. I'm tired of fighting with Toby. She looks over at me long enough to give me a weak smile and then looks back out the window.

Uh-oh.

"What's wrong?" I ask lightly scratching her arm. She turns to me and arches her brow. "I mean other than the obvious."

"The obvious just about covers it all." She says flatly and then turns to look out the window again.

"Donna." I say quietly again and wait for her to give me her attention again.

"I know I'm a bit of a basket-case today. It's a very stressful situation and I know Toby and I aren't handling it well. I'm sorry for that."

"No promise that you two will stop being insufferable? "

"I don't think I can keep that promise today." I confess.

"I don't either." She sighs.

"I'll make it up to you."

This piques her interest. "Really? How?"

"I don't know yet. But I'll think of something."

"Shoes?"

"Well, I was thinking something a little more physical…"

"I feel grimy."

"I wasn't talking about today."

She smiles again and this time it looks like she might actually mean it.

"Do you think that's me?"

"What's you?" I say, completely used to her lightning topic changes by now.

"Wholesome but not too wholesome?"

Shit. I knew she heard that. That's why she was peppering me with all those questions earlier. She's never even gave an inkling before that she was paying attention when I've talked about women, at least not a  
conversation that's she OVERHEARD. She's had plenty to say on the subject otherwise.

Oh.

Oops.

I think I can chalk it up to be extremely out of sorts today, traipsing through the heartland in a Firado suit.

"Do I think you're wholesome but not too wholesome?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know." I say honestly. "My opinion of you has been formed over four years of friendship and working closely with you. That was just something I said to tick off Toby. Plus, given the look on your face all day and the fact that you grew up in a condo, I'm not thinking you're real big on farms."

"They smell funny." She says wrinkling her nose and it prompts me to lean forward and kiss her on the end of it, which makes her smile and blush slightly, which then makes me smile like an idiot because I can't remember the last time I made a woman blush.

"So, you'd say your opinion of me was favorable then?"

"It's not glaringly obvious that I have a high opinion of you?"

"Well, maybe recent events…"

"Shit." I sigh and run a hand down my face. "Is this still about what CJ said?"

"Well, no… maybe a little…" she shrugs and looks down. "But, like, right after this your saying that stuff about Cathy…"

See this is where I often get into trouble with Donna. She's very deceiving. One minute, she's got skin like armor; the next, her heart is on her sleeve. Actually, her guard is typically down with me and if I'm preoccupied, as I most certainly am today, I won't notice until it's too late.

"You're so trusting, Donna." I say softly and she looks up at me. I can't take my eyes off her. "I can't decide if that's something that I wish were different or… I mean I know I have as big of an influence on you as you have on me, and so sometimes I think that if any of my personality traits were going to rub off on you that it would be to be more skeptical of people and their motives, but then I think that if any of your personality traits were to rub off on me, it would be that one, to not instantly think the worst of people. I just hate to see you hurt or disappointed and you're both those things today and I'm reasonably sure I'm to blame."

"Yeah." She nods with a shrug. "It's hard to deny that. But you're also making it into maybe the best day of my life."

I grin widely and drop my head against the back of the seat. She picks up my right hand and links our fingers, turning her body towards me and drawing her legs up on the seat.

"If we ever find an airport, I promise to buy you a first class ticket home." I say.

"That sounds nice."

"You deserve it."

"You'll sit with me though, right?"

"Of course, I don't want some rich businessman to think you're available."

"He wouldn't stay interested."

"I beg to differ."

"Once he finds out I'm not some rich heiress, he'll go back to his Scotch."

"If there's one thing you've taught me in four years, Donnatella, it's that people's worth is not in their bank account or framed on their wall."

"You always know just what to say to me at the right time."

"I have years of saying the wrong thing to give me direction there."

"Would you get mad if I kissed you right now?"

"Believe me when I say that I will NEVER get mad at you for that."

"Even on this train in front of all these people?"

"Even on the floor of Congress."

"What about Toby?"

"He's in the bar car."

"Of course." She smiles.

She looks at me a second and then leans in and kisses me. My head goes back against the seat as she turns in more towards me and my hand comes up to her face. It's deeper than it was before, filled with hours of that giddy feeling of wanting to kiss someone again. YEARS of that giddy feeling, if I'm truthful here. My hand moves from her soft cheek to her silky hair and I pull out the clip that's holding it up. It might be more  
advantageous to me if I were to devour her neck, which unfortunately I'm not going to do on this train, so instead I opt for feeling her hair fall over my hands.

She brings her free hand up and places it gently on my chest. Just that action alone sends shivers shooting through my body. That's what her hand touching me through clothes does. I can't fathom what it'll feel like when she touches bare skin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I know something you don't know." The President sings as I enter the Oval Office. 

Is he kidding me?

"Dare I ask what?" I groan.

"It's about Josh and Donna."

"Tell me the three of them are on an airplane right now bound for DC." I mean, the greatest minds in the country getting left behind by the motorcade. The three of them don't own a watch?

"No. Last I heard they were buying a house."

"Then what's with the song and dance?"

"When they finally get back here, they're going on a date."

My eyes widen and my jaw drops. "No."

"Yes."

"No, tell me you're joking."

"I am not."

"This is very bad timing, sir."

"Please." He scoffs waving his hand at me. "You don't think this is great? They're very excited."

"I think it was inevitable. I'd be much happier if it happened after the election."

"Josh Lyman going out on a date is not going to cost me the election. Do you know what's costing me the election today? Rolling pins and my wife, according to Bruno. I've got big problems today, my friend, not the least of which is Charlie's freaky Mayor of Shantytown right outside the door."

"Well, it's worse than that actually, Nancy and Fitz need to see you."

"Those are the seven worst words I can hear in a day." He shakes a finger at me.

"She's calling him Admiral Sissy-Mary."

He rolls his eyes and follows me out of the Oval Office. "Now this thing with Josh and Donna is the best part of my day."

"You don't think it's a little funny that they got left behind by the motorcade?"

"I think it's even funnier that they're stuck with Toby."

"I'd kill for a video camera." I chuckle.

"Don't worry about Josh and Donna. It's going to be okay."

"You're a hopeless romantic."

"One of us needs to be."

"Uh-huh."

I am happy for them. I am. But I'd be a lot happier for them if they waited until after the election.

TBC


	8. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

“I’m now ordering you to tell me why you were fired.”

“I’d really prefer another topic.”

“Such as?” I ask.

“Well, you’re the President of the United States. I’d imagine there are a number of subjects on your mind right now.”

“At present, aside from the drop in the stock market, I’m trying to figure out the political implications of my Deputy Chief of Staff taking his senior assistant out on a date.”

“Okay, I was thinking something a little more big-picture, but…”

“My Chief of Staff thinks it’s going to cause trouble in the middle of a re-election campaign.” I fill her in a bit, because talking to this woman is the most fun I’ve had all day and just because she’s completely wrong to fill Mrs. Landingham’s shoes doesn’t mean she isn’t a good conversationalist.

“I don’t understand, sir. I know Josh Lyman is single, is the woman involved married?” She looks confused.

“No! Do you think I wouldn’t have a problem with it myself if one of them were married?”

“I have no idea, sir. I was just asking. Why would anyone have a problem with two single adults going out on a date?” Debbie asks me.

“Leo seems to think that it would look bad, Josh being her boss and all…”

“Leo’s a prude, Mr. President.” Debbie waves away his concern. “Josh is a good man; one of the good guys around here.”

“That’s what I think!” I agree. “And you should see the two of them together. It’s like they were made for each other. Josh hired her during our campaign in New Hampshire, when she was in a bad place in her life. After Josh was shot… Donna single handedly brought him back from the brink of all that.”

“Sounds like a match made in heaven.” Debbie comments.

“Yeah… yeah, it does.” I nod. “They’ve each been slaving away for years; first to get me elected, then to help me Govern, and now to help me get re-elected. They’ve finally figured out what’s been right in front of them all along and, as you say, they’re two single adults. Why shouldn’t they have the opportunity to find happiness together that every other adult in this county has the opportunity to find just because they work for me in this building?”

“I can’t think of a reason, sir.”

“This whole thing…” I wave my arm in the air to encompass the Oval office. “The re- election, the Governing… sometimes it becomes the be all, end all and we miss life’s little moments. Josh and Donna, amid all the rest of this nonsense have found a moment.”

“Absolutely,” Debbie shrugs like all this is self- evident, but obviously it isn’t. Because if it was, one of the brilliant thinkers employed here would have come up with it years ago. We’re talking years people! Anyway, now that we’ve bonded, I think I’ve lulled her into a false sense of complacency.

“Then why were you fired?”

“Nice try, Mr. President.”

“I know you know I’m the President because you’ve used the title several times. So why do you ignore my direct order to tell you why you were fired?”

“I really can’t help you with that, sir, but if you want help with the Josh/Donna situation, I’ve got your back.” She tells me conspiratorially.

“Okay, I think we’re done.” I stand up and effectively end the interview.

“Okay, but let’s do this again from time to time.” She smiles sincerely and I have to smile back even though she’s exasperating. She and Sam cross paths as she leaves and he enters.

“Was she funny?” He asks me.

“She was insane!” I reply. “I’ll tell you one thing though; she agrees with me about Josh and Donna.”

“What about Josh and Donna?”

“That the two of them going out on a date is no big deal.”

“It’s a very big deal to them.” He qualifies. Sometimes, Sam can be such a… lawyer.

“Yes, to them it’s a big deal.” I agree. “But outside of our little family here, nobody is going to give a damn, right? Leo keeps spouting off about waiting until after re-election but Debbie and I think…” I stop midsentence as I realize what I’m saying. “Sam… call the gate, Have security stop Debbie at the gate.”

Sam picks up the phone to comply while I go after her at a half run. I’ve just found my new assistant.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hi, We need a room please.” I tell the desk clerk while we drip all over the lobby. We’ve just run three blocks to the airport hotel in pouring rain and we are; each of us, soaked.

“Two rooms?” He replies.

“No, we just need one room for what did we say? A half hour?” I ask the guys. The man behind the front desk gives me an odd look. What the hell? Sure, the three of us are dripping wet and we have no luggage so we can’t even change into some dry clothing and… Oh, God! What a pervert! He sees the three of us, with no luggage, asking for one room for a half hour and just assumes…?! Well, okay, when you put it that way it does look pretty bad. Fortunately, Josh jumps in... I don’t get to say that very often.

“No!” Josh moves next to me shaking his head. “We’re just looking for someplace to dry off and watch the news for a little bit because our flight was delayed.” He must make the right impression, because the clerk nods, takes the credit card I held out for him and promises to see what he can do. Tears start to pool in my eyes and that seems to alarm Josh.

“Hey, hey…stop that. It’s okay.” He rubs my arm and speaks in a low tone.

“It’s not okay, we’re far from home, soaking wet, and that hotel guy thinks I’m some kind of hooker!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re not dressed anything like a hooker.”

“Joshua!”

“I’m just saying…”

“I might as well not be wearing…I mean with everything soaked, it must be mostly see through.” I pull my suit jacket tighter around me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn, she’s right.

“I’m going to take care of that right now.” I decide.

“How?” She looks at me skeptically and I look around me for inspiration. Low and behold it strikes! Hotel gift-shop. 

“I’ll be right back.” I tell her and leave her with Toby while I run across the lobby. It costs me an arm and a leg, they ALWAYS rip you off at hotels, but I find a lovely Indiana State University sweatshirt. I run back with my proud purchase to find Toby and Donna staring at the TV set in the lobby; this can’t be good.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Pipe bomb at Kennison State.” Toby tells me when Donna just shakes her head and lays it on my shoulder with her eyes closed. “Forty-four people dead, another 100 wounded.”

“My kingdom for a cell phone.” I mutter in exasperation.

“We couldn’t do anything anyway.” Toby replies.

“Miss Moss?” The clerk calls to us. “I have a room for you… all.”

“Let’s go upstairs.” I nudge Donna. “You can take a hot shower and change into the lovely clothing I bought for you.”

Toby retrieves the key from the clerk and we all walk slowly and silently upstairs. Toby opens the door and I hand Donna the sweatshirt while I pull her toward the bathroom. “Forget the shower, take a bath. It looks like we may be stuck here awhile anyway.”

“I’ll just take a quick shower. I’m saving a long, hot bath for when we get home.” She tells me and rubs her hands down my arms. “Thanks.”

Oh. My. God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What, are you calling China?” I ask him. I think the man is physically incapable of sitting still.

“No, I’m using my credit card to make a long distance phone call.” He spouts back at me. “We are without cell phones right now, remember?”

“Who the hell are you calling?” I demand.

“Danny.”

“Danny? Danny Concannon?” He nods at me. “What the hell for?”

“Because I have a cunning mind and while I have been trapped on the trip from hell, it has been hatching a plan… a plan to repay CJ for her interference earlier.” Oh, man…

“I think she might be pretty busy, right now.” I indicate the television where she’s currently answering questions about the bombing.

“Not now…” He rolls his eyes at me. 

“Obviously she’s got other stuff now. But in a day or so, when things calm down and the press corps is more interested in a diversion…” He grins this grin that makes me very nervous.

“She’ll never even be expecting it since she did this whole, ‘I’m so sorry Donna’ routine and she’ll think Donna pulled me back into line and then…”

“Stop.” I request softly. “I’m begging you. Just stop.”

He shrugs and has his little tete-a-tete with Danny, which I totally ignore. I want plausible deniability. Then he makes another call and hangs up rather abruptly. “We’re delayed another two hours.”

Donna chooses that moment to come out of the bathroom in an oversize sweatshirt and damp pants, looking like a bedraggled cat. Josh motions to her and she walks immediately over to where he’s lying on the bed and  
curls up next to him. He puts his arm around her and they both close their eyes and appear to sleep. Did I just say that man never sits still? I guess I was wrong.

TBC


	9. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

Toby and Max Kelly are engrossed in conversation. Each seems more intrigued by the other. Toby, because he can utterly not relate to Max's problems on any level; and Max because... well, Toby works for the President.

I drain my beer and stretch. "Is the kitchen still open?" I ask the bartender.

"Yes, sir."

"I need to put in an order for a large plate of French fries." Maybe salty comfort food will get me out of the doghouse with Donna. I'm the rookie batter who finally gets on the roster and manages to strike out in the on deck box. I think this day would have gone very differently had I not been stuck with Toby... and stranded in Indiana.

But on the other hand, as stressful as this day has been, I've enjoyed it as well. The stolen moments with Donna have made it all worth it... that is if she ever forgives me. I could care less whether or not she forgives Toby.

"When the fries are done, can you send them over to our table with another one of these?" I request holding up my pint glass.

"Will do." The bartender nods.

I slide off the stool, leaving Toby and Max Kelly to their conversation and turn to our table. Donna's got her head down on her arms and her eyes closed. I walk up behind her and slide my hands to her shoulders and start kneading into the muscles there. She groans and tips her head forward in permission to continue, so I hook my foot around the chair next to her, slide it over and get comfortable.

"I don't know how many times in one day I can really expect to you accept my apology." I say lightly.

"You'd be surprised." She says with another groan as I move down her back. She turns her head back out and lays it on her forearms again. "It's getting late." She says and we still have to get from here to D.C.

My hands still a moment as I catch on to what she's saying. I can't blame her. 

"Yeah." I sigh.

Shit.

"But we're staying over in Boston tomorrow night." She offers hopefully.

"I'm still disappointed. "

"I know."

I continue massaging her shoulders and back for a little while until she sighs in contentment and sits up. She drops her head back and looks at me upside down. "You have very talented hands." She smiles.

"She says as she cancels our date." I reply with a smirk.

"Postpones until tomorrow." She frowns turning around. "Josh, it's 11 o'clock now and we're in Chicago. I want to actually, you know, be able to spend time with you and not yawn the whole time."

I link my hand with hers and kiss her forehead. "I've been spending time with you all day and it's been incredible." She smiles widely. I love it when I put that smile on her face. I glance over to the empty dance floor and back at her. "Dance with me?"

"Oh yes." She smiles standing up.

There's a half wall that has the jukebox on the other side of it and it provides the perfect obstruction from the watchful eyes of the six other people in this place. I wrap my arms around her waist and she drops her head down onto my shoulder... exactly NOT how we're allowed to dance at all the formal events.

We move slowly around our corner of the dance floor and she smiles contently with her eyes close. I could stay like this forever, I really could.

Not including the night I got shot, because really that's in a league all its own, this is probably the most surreal day of my life. I was literally backed into a corner and pressured to finally do the one thing I've been dying to do for four years and damned if I don't feel like a completely different man for it. The difference between merely dancing with Donna and the innocent flirting throughout the day and anything I had with Amy or Mandy, or even Joey, who never got past the flirty stage, is like night and day.

There's no denying I was attracted to Donna's three most recent predecessors, but I didn't go into any of those relationships, or lack thereof in Joey's case, with a pre- existing emotional attachment. When Donna's not around me, I feel like I'm missing a limb, she's that integral to my daily life.

Sometimes, I just can't believe my friends/ co-workers. Of all people, I would expect Toby to be the one to flip out about Donna and me and give me shit about it. He's the one in charge of image and message, and yet he's said basically nothing negative about it all day. In fact, he even goaded me on with Bruno. But CJ, who I would have expected to be a little more supportive, pulled that bet crap with Donna. And I don't care what Toby says, I'm not done with Claudia Jean, even if I have to employ Charlie's help.

"Do you think we can dance this way at the next White House function?" she asks in a sleepy voice. I might be the only thing keeping her upright at the moment.

"Let's save it for the Inauguration. " I reply. I could give a shit about image problems after the election.

"I can't believe you just said that." she chuckles against my shoulder.

"Toby would kill you if he heard that. YOU would kill someone if you heard that."

"I'm having an off day." I shrug.

"I'll say!"

I see the bartender bring our French fries and beer over to the table and I nod at him. "I have a surprise for you." I say against her ear.

"More surprises?" She picks her head up and looks at me. I nod and lead her back to the table, sweeping my hand across the fries.

"You got me fries." She sighs happily plopping down in front of the big plate.

"I thought you could use the comfort."

"You're doing a pretty good job without it, but it was very thoughtful. Only one beer?"

"In all seriousness, Donna, what's the point of two?"

"This is why I love you so much." She says. I freeze up and her eyes widen in horror at what she just revealed, but I'll be damned if I give her the opportunity to walk it back so I kiss her soundly for it.

"It's been that kind of day, Donnatella." I laugh. "And I never thought I'd tell you that I loved you in a hotel bar drenched in sweat, road grime, possibly bugs from the Jeep and rain, but irresistible 0pportunities have been presenting themselves all day."

She smiles radiantly as she dives into her fries. I, myself, sit back and marvel how watching her delightfully devour a plate of French fries and sharing a beer with her can make me so damn happy.

TBC


	10. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

“I got something for you.” He grins at me with his dimples; I’m helpless against the dimples.

“An upgrade to first class?” I shoot back.

“Donnnnaaaaa…” He moans. He tried to get us first class tickets, but with the flight getting delayed, and two others canceled, there weren’t any first class tickets available. “I tried. You KNOW I tried.”

“Yeah…” I grin too, so he knows I’m only teasing. “So… what did you get me? Wait. I have to warn you that it’s too early in our relationship for you to be buying me any more expensive pieces of clothing.” I finger the University sweatshirt he bought me.

“Damn.” He snaps his fingers. “I’ll return this then.” He holds a small bag next to his face and I make a grab for it. “Whoa! I think you’re getting greedy, Donnatella.”

“It’s been a long, trying day, Joshua. Give me my present.” I hold my hand out to him and he promptly places the bag in it. I open it up quickly to see what he’s so excited about. I should have known; a cell phone battery.

“Wow. I really don’t know how to thank you.” I deadpan.

“We can now be connected with the rest of the world, Donna!” He’s says excitedly. “And since you have one of the nice phones, I can even get my email online with that thing!”

“So… really it’s more of a present for you than for me.”

“No, of course not.” He scoffs. “It’s definitely a present for you.”

“Just how do you figure that?” I put a hand on my hip and wait for his reply.

This ought to be good.

“Well… if I can use your cell phone, then you won’t have to listen to me complain about how cut off I am from everyone and everything, and I can probably keep myself entertained for the next 30 minutes before we board the plane.”

“That is helpful yes, but once we board the plane and we have to shut off the phone, then what?”

“Then… I was hoping to entertain you.” He grins again and plants a quick kiss on my lips that shoots sparks straight to my toes.

“That could work.” I murmur and kiss him again. We find a pair of unoccupied seats and Josh happily surfs the net on my phone after he replies to a few of his more important emails and phone calls. Before long, they announce they’re beginning boarding for our flight home; starting with people who are traveling with small children and snobby first class people.

No, I’m not bitter; it’s just that I thought class warfare was over in this country.

“Donna, you need to board now.” Toby holds out a boarding pass to me, but I don’t even look up from the newspaper I’m reading.

“No, they’re just boarding first class now, Toby.”

“I know, and you’ve got a first class ticket, so you need to board now.” He announces and I look over at Josh who appears equally puzzled.

Toby shrugs and then sighs deeply. “I got on the standby list and paid the additional fee, and a seat opened up so…” He thrusts the boarding pass at me again, a little more impatiently. “It’s the least I could do after subjecting you to my filthy mood all day.” My heart melts just a little.

“Toby…” I coo and stand up to hug him. “That was SO sweet and thoughtful.” I take the pass and do a little excited dance. “First class! I’ll meet you two when we get off in D.C. Thanks so much, Toby!” I grab my purse, give Josh a quick kiss on his mouth, which is hanging open, and make my way to the gate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What did you do?” I demand and Toby shrugs again.

“She deserves something nice.” He tells me.

“Yeah, but it was MY job to do something nice! Mine! You knew I was trying to get a first class ticket for the trip back.” I complain.

“Not hard enough apparently. Besides, it was either this, or watch you two play tonsil hockey all the way back to D.C.” Toby shakes his head and puts his hands out in front of him like he’s warding off some kind of evil spell. “I didn’t want a piece of that.”

“But…” I begin again but Toby interrupts me.

“Look, Donna is thrilled and if you don’t think that good mood will spill over to your benefit at the end of this trip, you’re an idiot.”

Oh, yeah. Yeah, he’s right. My face forms into a smile again. Donna in a thrilled mood when we land in D.C. could very easily spill over to my benefit.

“You’re right.” I admit. “And it was a very nice thing for you to do for Donna. Thanks Toby.”

“You’re welcome…and you owe me $150 for the upgrade.” He tacks on right before he walks over to the gate to wait for our turn to board. I’m about to protest when I remember the look on Donna’s face when she accepted the boarding pass… it’s an awfully small price to pay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That’s tragic, really, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” I tell her but I can’t keep the grin off my face. Maybe it’s from the lack of sleep. Mallory has broken up with the hockey player! My day is finally starting to look up. 

We banter back and forth for a few minutes before she offers to take my tired ass home. Better and better. She really likes my writing.

“So have you heard from Josh? Are they close to home yet?” She asks me once we’re in her car.

“He called right before they left from Chicago.” I tell her. “They’ve had quite the adventure.”

“Sounds like it from what Dad told me. Donna must have been going up a wall between Toby and Josh freaking out all day.”

“Maybe not… she had something good to look forward to tonight.” I hint.

“What was that?” She asks.

“A date… with Josh Lyman.” Wait for it…

“WHAT?!” She laughs.

“You heard right.” I nod. “Josh asked Donna out for a dinner date and she accepted.”

“Oh, come on! I had after re-election in the pool. They couldn’t have waited until after re-election?” Mallory complains.

“You’d rather win the bet than see our friends happy?” I shoot back.

“I want to see our friends happy!” She protests. “I just would rather they were… happy after re-election.”

“Mallory!” I laugh.

“Well, they’ve waited this long already.” She explains and she’s right, they have waited a long time, but… Hey, something just occurred to me.

“Wait a second.” I say out loud.

“What?” Mallory looks alarmed.

“No, not you… Toby. Toby had the fourth year in the betting pool. Toby was on the plane today with them and… that little sneak!”

Now Mallory chuckles, “Did you have a clause about no encouragement?”

“No.” I mutter.

“Then I think we’re all paying up to Toby.” She shrugs. “Wouldn’t you rather your friends were happy than have Toby lose the bet?”

“Well…”

“Sam?!” Now it’s Mallory’s turn to chastise me. Toby is always figuring the angles on things. Then another thought occurs to me; Josh and Donna have finally admitted their feelings about each other and Toby has been stuck with them alone all day and night. Payback! Too funny!

“I’m very happy for my friends. They should have been let out of the box a long time ago. Whatever happens between them isn’t going to change the way they work together at the White House.”

“No.” Mallory agrees. “Dad wasn’t very happy about the timing though.”

“All due respect, Mallory, but your dad should stay completely out of this unless it spills over into their work.”

“He’s not going to make a thing of it… well, he may hassle Josh a little bit, but just for fun.”

“We’re all going to do that, aren’t we?” I ask and make her laugh again.

“Josh is like a brother to me, Sam.” She says with a straight face. “I’m going to give him WAY more than just a little bit of a hassle about it.”

“Fair enough.”

“We have arrived.” She announces as she pulls up at my front door. “Go get some sleep; you’ve earned it. The speech was outstanding.”

“Thanks, Mal.” I say sincerely. “We’re uh… going to the Rock the Vote even tomorrow night. Would you be interested in coming with?”

“I think I would.” She nods.

“Great.” I smile at her and before I can second-guess myself, I plant a kiss right on her adorable mouth. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Thanks for the ride.”

“Night, Sam.”

I get up to my apartment and drop onto the bed fully clothed except for my shoes, which I toed off just inside the door. I can’t wait to talk to Josh so we can compare our days.

TBC


	11. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

My feet hurt. My body aches. My eyes are dried open. My hair is a rat's nest. And I'm all by myself.

This sucks.

I look over at my clock; 2 a.m. Then I look over at my bed waiting for me. Nice, warm and empty. I should just crash into it and let it swallow me up but I feel absolutely disgusting and as soon as I had the thought of a bath, it just started calling me. I don't have any bubbles left, but the warmth of the water surrounding me will be more than enough for tonight… or this morning. And really, I work for the President of the United States who frequently goes without sleep and continues to be brilliant, so who am I to complain?

I change out of my grimy clothes and put on my bathrobe and turn on my tub nice and hot. I smile as I put my new sweatshirt into the hamper. Josh has no idea how sweet he can be. Did I really tell him tonight that I loved him? That was something that I never thought was going to be allowed to come out of my mouth… at least not to him.

While the tub fills, I run a brush through my hair to hack the tangles out. It hurts. I think I'm going to have to buy a brush to carry in my tote bag, you know, for the next time I get stuck in Indiana. Who would have thought it would be so hard to get to an airport?

The sound of the water is soothing. I smile as the fresh memory of Josh kissing me goodnight plays in my head. I'm disappointed that our date didn't work out, but I guess in a sense we've had it all day, or over the past four years. What do we need a "date" for? But still, I liked the idea of hanging out alone with him without anyone else around. That virtually never happens.

There's a soft knock on my front door and the anticipation builds in my chest and I smile. It's got to be Josh. But I won't get my hopes up because the crazy lady upstairs knocks on my door at all odd hours of the day and night, too.

I move quickly through my small apartment and whip open the door. I am not disappointed. Josh is there in jeans and a t-shirt. He looks tired and hot. And by hot, I mean really good. I love casual Josh. I never get to see it. He's leaning against the doorframe like he could happily sleep against it. He smiles when he makes eye contact with me.

I tilt my head to the side and smile at him. "What are you doing here?"

Then, he holds up the most glorious of things.

Bubble bath.

I shriek in delight and grab it out of his hand.

"It's my favorite kind! How did you know?"

"It's been at my house." He shrugs. "When you mentioned the `longest bath of your life,' I thought you could use it. And… I wasn't ready to say goodnight." I pull him over the threshold and kiss him soundly in reward. He really has no idea how sweet he can be.

"Thank you." I whisper. "You're not going back home now are you?"

"I don't want to." He says looking down. "I'm only going to get about three hours of sleep tonight and I really want them to be with you."

"You can be really gooey when you want to be, can't you?" I smile as my heart just melts.

"Believe me when I tell you I'm in uncharted territory right now." He confesses. "It's pretty intimidating. "

"You get intimidated? " I ask surprised. "By me?" He nods. "Since when?"

"Since the day I met you, Donna."

"You've never shown it."

"Well… no, that would be bad."

"It's not bad." I smile. I wave the bubble around a bit. "Are you going to join me?"

His eyes go wide and I honestly don't think he anticipated that. "I'm sorry?"

His voice takes on a high-pitched tone that tends to happen to him when he gets nervous about what he's having to talk about.

"You've been saying that to me all day." I reply with an eye roll. I grab his hand and drag him towards the bathroom.

"Donna, I don't know about this." He says quickly. "I really didn't, you know, anticipate this and…"

"You've got to be as achy as I am, probably more." I reply. I drop some dollops of bubbles into the water, let it run for a few more seconds to let them rise and then shut off the water.

I turn to face him and his eyes are the size of half dollars. Is he nervous? I pull the sash of my robe apart and let it fall open. My hands are shaking and I take a deep breath. This is Josh here in my bathroom, who I'm trying to entice into the tub with me. It's a moment that, quite frankly, I never thought I'd have. His breathing is becoming a little shallow and faster and I step forward and lightly kiss his neck.

"You can wait for me in the living room if you want." I say lightly.

"I don't want to do that at all." He says quickly. "I just don't want you to think this is why I came over here. It's you and me, Donna, and…"

I bring my fingers up to his lips and cover his mouth. "I think you came over to bring me bubbles because you've done little sweet things like that for me all day, and I think you came over to spend the night with me. I know the kind of guy you are, Josh. We don't have to do anything you're not ready…"

"Oh, I'm ready, Donna. Believe me."

"I don't think you had any ulterior motives. You don't think I've spent four years wanting this just as much?"

"That's really a concept that will make my head explode. No, I don't think that. I prefer to think that you don't even know what that IS."

"Well believe me, buster, I know and I know I want it with YOU." I poke him in the chest with my finger and then let the robe slide down my body and hit the floor. His eyes, if possible, get wider then he slams them shut and presses his palms against them.

"Warn a guy, Donna!"

"I thought you loved me." I pout.

His eyes fly open and connect directly with mine. "I do."

I step over the side of the tub and look at him expectantly. "Then get naked and get into this tub with me, for crying out loud."

He immediately pulls off his shoes and I've never seen a man get undressed so fast in my life. He has a beautiful body. My eyes are, of course, drawn to the scars on his chest which are still pink, but fading into his skin as we're approaching the anniversary.

"Don't look at them." He says quickly.

"Don't be paranoid. Not with me." I shoot back. I tug him down into the water with me. He leans back against the tub and I settle down against him, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my cheek to his chest. I close my eyes and sigh. "This is heavenly."

"This is incredibly surreal."

"It's been that kind of day." I chuckle, repeating his words. His fingers start stroking my hair and it isn't until I feel him nudge me and notice the cold water that I realize I fell asleep right there in the tub with him.

"Come on, Donna." He's whispering. "Let's get out of here, we're pruning."

"No, let's stay right here forever."

"You're not going to think that in a few minutes when this water is icy."

"Kay."

I let him tug me up and we go through the motions of drying off and putting clothes back on. I put on pajamas and he puts on boxers and a t-shirt and we crawl, finally, into my bed. I curl up against him and sigh. I don't know about him, but I'm out like a light.

TBC


	12. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

I wake up to the feel of Josh’s fingers running through my hair. When I open my eyes I see him just staring at me in a way that’s kind of disconcerting. Before I can say anything about it though, his fingers move past my hair and barely skim my back as they continue their journey south. The Harvard T shirt I’m wearing barely skims my thighs and his fingers tickle me there and I giggle. I close my eyes again to revel in the sensations his fingers are causing in my body so it’s a complete surprise when I feel his lips on my neck and along my collarbone. I have died and gone to heaven.

“I love you, Donnatella.” He whispers in my ear and goose bumps appear all over my body. It makes him chuckle. I’m okay with that. His hands move under my t-shirt and stroke my bare back. It is at this point that I actually moan out loud. “I want to make love with you.”

“On our first date? What kind of woman do you take me for?” I toss back with my eyes still closed. “I didn’t even get the dinner you promised me.”

“Yeah, but I brought you the bubble bath.” He reminds me.

“True.” I acknowledge and turn over so that we’re facing each other and his hands are just under my breasts. I don’t think I can get another word out right now.

“And this wasn’t our first date; it was just our first ‘formal’ date.” He argues and his hands stray a little closer to my breasts. I think I’m holding my breath now. “Think about it. We’ve done dinners, movies, taken trips together…” His fingers glide over the slopes of my breasts and tease my nipples; my breath comes out in a hiss. “We’ve been dating for years, don’t you think?”

“I think I see your point.” I admit and pull him by his hair until I can fuse my lips to his. When I imagined making love to Josh Lyman, and let’s be honest here, he’s been the star of more than one fantasy, it’s always been this languorous, sensual experience that would take hours. This is much too fast and furious to be confused with those fantasies. But I’m not complaining. Josh explores every inch of my body with his fingers and mouth in between telling me how much he loves me and how much this means to him. I’m floored.

He only pauses briefly to ask if we need to use any birth control and I assure him that I’m both on the pill and clean. His grin broadens and mine does too. He doesn’t wait another second before he joins our bodies together and it doesn’t take many more seconds after that before we’ve both climaxed and are recovering in each other’s arms. I could stay right here forever but…

“What time is it?” I ask him.

“6:30.” He answers while he nuzzles my neck.

“Okay… then… 6:30?!” I sit up in a panic and nearly send Josh to the floor. “We have to be at the White House at 7:30!”

“What for? The President isn’t in the building.” He tries to pull me back down on the bed with him.

“We were AWOL yesterday. Do you not think there are a few things we need to catch up on before he gets back?” I remind him.

“Nothing more important than this.” He disputes.

“Many things more important than this. We need to shower and change first too!”

“Shower…yes, we should shower…right now.” His eyes light up and he pulls me by the hand, naked, toward the bathroom.

“No!” I try, and fail, to keep a straight face while I admonish him. “We are not taking a shower together.”

“Donna…” And I swear to God he stomps one of his feet like a 6 year old.

“We need to get clean and dressed and get to our work at the White House.” I state. “I’m going to shower here, and you’re going to shower at your place, where you will also change into appropriate clothing before  
meeting me at the White House for work.”

“Really?” He asks. “Are you sure…?” He leans in and kisses me and I melt.

“I suppose a few more minutes…” I start to give in when I imagine Leo McGarry’s face when we arrive late after not arriving at all yesterday. “No. No, we can’t. Josh, please. We need to show Leo that this change in our relationship isn’t going to affect our work.”

“Yeah, but I’m afraid it might.” Josh admits.

“Why?”

“Because now that I know how exquisite your naked body is, I’m afraid I’m going to be very distracted at work.”

“Exquisite?” I repeat. He just nods and moves his hands appreciably over said body. He has skills, my Joshua. “Josh… Believe me I hate to be the one to say this right now, but…”

He lets out a long sigh and drops his forehead against mine. “I have to shower and change at my place?”

I nod sadly.

“Maybe we could shower after work?” He suggests and I chuckle. “It’s not funny. The White House is very old and dirty. We will certainly need to shower when we get done.”

“I think that’s very wise.” I tell him. “Now, go get your shower, get dressed and get to work so we can get back here as soon as possible.” I give him a quick kiss before ducking into the bathroom and locking the door. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to sneak back in here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get dressed but on my way to the front door, I decide to just go in the bathroom to give her one last kiss goodbye but the door is locked! Does she know me, or what?

Resigned, I hurry to my place in order to get showered dressed and back in the White House with Donna again as soon as humanly possible. Out of habit I pick up the paper outside my front door and start skimming it as I run the water for the shower and start the coffeemaker. Jesus! They’re giving Wadkins a 35 million retention bonus? For his crappy work at Redstar? This is such bullshit. Wadkins runs his company into the ground and gets a 35 million dollar retention bonus, which is probably tax deductible thanks to the Republicans, while Matt Kelly is struggling to send his oldest child to college. It’s simply bullshit. Donna and I will never have to worry about sending our kids to college thanks to a trio of family trust funds, but…

Wait a second… No, not the part about Donna and I having kids. Of course we’re going to have kids! We’re going to have a family and be together for the rest of our lives now. I just had to get past the hard part…  
asking her out… The rest is gravy, believe me. No, I was thinking about why Wadkins money is tax deductible when Matt Kelly’s is not. And more importantly, why we couldn’t make Matt Kelly’s college payments tax deductible. Why couldn’t we???

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are some 120 news outlets covering the hour-to- hour movements of the President. Only the cream of the crop ride here with me. The rest are consigned to the zoo plane where they do not have moist towelettes. This is why I'm so disappointed that with the exceptions of Terry, Mike, Mark and Rachel, you all misspelled Muhzriabolah.” I sigh.

“I'm on television.” Tom calls out.

“It was misspelled in your copy. I could tell.” I toss back.

“Speaking of copy - is there an advance on the speech to the teachers?” Tom follows up.

“An advance copy of text? You must be new.”

“I have a question!” Danny calls out. Of course he does.

“Yes, Daniel.”

“Does the White House have a comment on the relationship between Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman and his senior assistant Donna Moss?”

“Excuse me?” I stall for time as several reporter’s heads come up in surprise and interest in this possible news. Damn it, Danny!

“I asked if you, as the representative of the White House, have a comment about the fact that Josh Lyman is now dating his senior assistant Donna Moss.”

“The…uh…White House…does not comment on the personal lives of it’s staffers.” I roll out the tired old clichéd line.

“Really?” Danny asks all innocently. As. If.

“Really.”

“That’s funny. Josh had a lot to say about it.” Danny smiles.

“You mean off the record.” I remind him. “As a personal friend.”

“Nope.” He just keeps smiling and I want to wipe that smile off with… “He said how thrilled he was that such a bright, beautiful woman like Donna Moss would give him the time of day.”

“Uh-huh.” I mutter.

“He also said how much it meant to him that the White House was treating them both like grownups; trusting them to do their jobs professionally even as they explore a more personal relationship romantically.”

“O-kay.” I bite off. Is he really doing this to them? Then I take a breath and look at his face. He’s not trying to hurt them. He’s trying to help them by making it a non story. “Well, yes, of course, the White House trusts all of the people working there to make responsible choices in their personal life. We realize that everyone here has a life, and is entitled to a life, outside the White House.”

“Great.” Danny nods. “We all know those two. It’s about time they see what all the rest of us do. That people can work together during the day, even against one another during the day but manage to keep it  
professional while still having a personal relationship when the work day is done.”

“Exactly.” I agree. Maybe Danny’s not as much of a rabble-rouser as I thought. “We whole heartedly endorse everyone’s right to a personal life.”

“No matter where they work in the White House?” He presses.

“Yes, no matter where they work in the White House.” I confirm. “And for your information, Leo does Donna’s performance reviews and raise requests, not Josh.”

“I did know that but thanks for clearing that up for the rest of us.” He smiles.

“You’re welcome.” I smile back and head for the staff cabin.

“Oh, CJ! One more thing?”

“Yes, Danny.”

“Since the White House has no problem with it’s staffers having personal relationships with people who may be considered adversaries during the day, how about you finally accepting my invitation to dinner?”

There are cat-calls and snickers throughout the cabin - I am taking names, believe me.

“I’ve gone to dinner with you, Danny. I’m hurt that you’ve already forgotten.” I try for a humorous response, but he’s having none of it. He gets out of his seat and walks down the aisle closer to me, but still a good ten feet away.

“That was about business… or so you told me.” Danny tells the entire contingent. I think my entire body is bright red. “Come on, Claudia Jean. Josh grew a pair and finally asked Donna. Are you really going to let him get one up on you? Call you chicken? You and me. Dinner at the location of your choice. If it’s a really great date you may or may not get written up about in the Post afterward.”

“Danny…” I nearly growl.

“Go out on a date with me.” Danny pouts a little. He’s so damn cute. Josh was behind this whole thing. Of that I have no doubt. But I also don’t doubt Danny’s sincerity here and he’s taking a risk asking in front of all his colleagues too.

“One date.” I point my finger at him to illustrate the number ‘one’. “And if one word of it ends up in the Post, so will you… in the obituary section.” I turn and leave before the clapping breaks out. Josh is a dead man.

TBC


	13. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

"Come on."

"No."

"Just for a little while."

"Impossible."

"Please?"

"No."

"You said I could pick what we did this morning."

"I didn't know you were going to pick an aquarium."

"Josh!"

"There's NOTHING else you want to go see?"

"They have a whale!"

"Underwater things are creepy Donna."

"Not the penguins."

"Pick something else."

"You're no fun."

"I can be plenty fun."

"What creeps you out?"

"Octopuses."

"Isn't it Octopi?"

"I could care less. They're creepy."

"How about Fenway?"

"You're not going to tease me with that Donna, it's the Yankees that hate the Red Sox."

"A whole whale!"

"As opposed to?"

"No whale at all."

"I was hoping you'd say a half whale."

"And lobster."

"Lobsters are for eating, not staring at in a tank."

"How about a harbor duck tour?"

"What's with the water theme?"

"I've spent 20 hours stuck in, you know, land. Water will be a nice change of pace."

"Pick something else."

"You're no fun."

"All evidence to the contrary."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, when I said pick something else, I didn't think you'd pick The Freedom Trail."

"What'd you think I was going to pick?"

"Food! A bar! Staying in the hotel and doing, you know, other things."

"I want to see Boston."

"It's Harvard, Fenway, and a bunch of old buildings."

"And I want to see the old buildings. This is the Old State House, Josh; the Declaration of Independence was read from here."

"Come back to the hotel with me and I will arrange a private reading of the Declaration of Independence by the current President of the United States."

"That's tempting, but I don't think he'll do it."

"Are you kidding me? That's just the geeklike stuff he loves!"

"And what's that say about me then that you think I'd be interested in hearing that?"

"mpffhf."

"What was that, Josh? I didn't quite make that out."

"You're my beautiful geek."

"Lovely."

"I said beautiful."

"Uh-huh. Don't huff like that. Fanueil Hall is next!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This is incredible!"

"It's Paul Revere's House."

"Paul Revere Josh!"

"He only did the one thing, Donna."

"Not true, he joined the military. He was an officer with the Penobscot Expedition."

"Yeah, that was nothing to be proud of. That was a total disaster."

"The President has a carving knife made by Paul Revere."

"Really?"

"Well, now Charlie has it."

"How'd Charlie get it?"

"I don't really know."

"Can we move on now?"

"Josh! This is where it all started!"

"Yes, I know. Hey! I got a better idea."

"Really? What?"

"Newberry Street! You can't come to Boston and not go to Newberry Street and it's right by my favorite deli in Beacon Hill."

"What's on Newberry Street?"

"Stores."

"Good stores?"

"It's, like, famous."

"I'm a girl on a budget."

"My treat."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you said yes."

"That's sweet. What's in it for you?"

"You!"

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Are you trying to buy my love?"

"Didn't I have it before today?"

"Yes."

"When's the last time I took you on a shopping spree?"

"Fair point - You are shockingly falling down on the job in that department."

"I wouldn't say shockingly."

"What's the last thing you bought me?"

"A sweatshirt and a cell phone battery."

"I mean before all the kissing started."

"I would have bought you that anyway."

"Possibly. We'll never know."

"I think you need more sleep."

"I do. After lunch, let's go back to the hotel so I can take a nap."

"YES!"

"By myself."

"What the hell?"

"Josh, if you come into my hotel room with me, I will not be able to sleep."

"Are you saying you won't be able to control yourself around me if there's a bed in the vicinity?"

"I would never say something like that to you. I'm saying you'll complain about being bored and won't be able to sleep."

"I got just as little sleep as you last night. I'm tired too."

"Yeah, but you operate on some high octane fuel. You guzzle a pot of coffee and you're good to go for days."

"Are you saying I'm high strung?"

"You? High strung? That doesn't sound like you, does it?"

"See, you think you're cute…"

"When, in fact, I'm adorable."

"You are, and it makes it very hard to be annoyed with you."

"Progress!"

"I said annoyed WITH you, not BY you, my dear."

"That's not designed to make me feel good."

"You are beautiful and brilliant and cunning."

"Cunning?"

"Yes."

"I kinda like that."

"I figured you would."

"CJ said I have a criminal mind."

"You and I probably shouldn't go there."

"Right. Shopping. Lunch. Nap."

"Sounds heavenly."

"You'll let me sleep?"

"Sure… eventually. "

"I should have known."

"Hey, you're the one that finds me irresistible. "

"I do… as long as you are not speaking at the time."

"That's for the annoyed with thing?"

"Yes, my dear."

"Touché!"

TBC


	14. Stuck, Stranded and Striking Out

“I thought you were taking Donna out for the thing.” Toby leans toward me.

“I am.”

“You can go now.” He tells me, like I need his permission.

“Gee Dad, thanks.”

“Where were you all afternoon?” He asks me.

“You really don’t want to know.” I assure him as Sam comes over to join us.

“I thought you were taking Donna out now.” He mentions. Does everybody think I need help with this? I do not. I’m just biding my time… waiting for…there it is. I get up from my seat and wander over to the edge of the dance floor so I can get a better view of the proceedings as CJ finishes up her  
inspirational speech about why these college kids need to rock the vote. I literally rub my hands in anticipation.

A young man carrying a rose jumps up on the stage and takes the mic from a confused Press Secretary.

“Ms. Cregg, Danny Concannon requests the presence of your company for dinner.” He presents the rose with a flourish and CJ’s eyes start darting around the room. The young man holds his arm out to CJ who reluctantly takes it and leads her to a table in the back corner where Danny is waiting for her at a table distinctly out of place for this establishment; set with a  
white linen tablecloth and a pair of candlesticks. CJ takes her seat across from Danny amid flashes from all the news outlets covering the event. Oh yeah, my work here is done. Donna and I might have had our first ‘date’ stranded in Indiana but at least there were no cameras flashing and a large group of people watching us all the time.

Now, I can go find Donna and get the hell out of here. Shit. Amy Gardner.

“Hey, J.”

“Amy.” I nod and stop to have the donversation I know is coming.c

“Read some interesting press on you today.”

“I can imagine.” I chuckle but she doesn’t seem to see the humor. Imagine that! Amy Gardner is humorless.

“I asked you that first time you came to my office. I asked you if you were dating your assistant.”

“Yes, you did. And I wasn’t.”

“But you wanted to, right?”

This seems like a trick question, so I go with honesty. “I’ve always wanted to; I just didn’t think she did, or that Leo wouldn’t kill me for it.”

“I see.” She grimaces. “You should know… I’ve accepted a position helping Senator Stackhouse with debate prep.”

“Of course you did.” I chuckle again.

“What is that supposed to mean?” She asks.

“I think it’s perfect for you. There’s no chance in hell he’ll win; he doesn’t even want to. It will be all about issues and that’s your forte.” She thinks about my statement for a few seconds and decides to accept it as the compliment it was intended to be. She’s quite a woman, Amy Gardner. She’s smart, accomplished, and beautiful… but she certainly isn’t for me.

“I’ve got to be going now, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing you and the Senator very soon. Bye Amy.”

“Bye Joshua.” She kisses my cheek and we walk off in opposite directions. It takes me a couple minutes to find Donna off in a dark corner drinking a whiskey sour by herself.

“I’ve been looking for you.” I tell her and she shrugs dismissively. What the hell? We had a great afternoon… at least I thought we did. What gives?

“Funny, you were looking for me, but found Amy Gardner,” She snarks. I think she’s jealous! Although this pleases me immensely, I’m not stupid enough to show it.

“Amy Gardner found me and I lost no time in losing her again.” I point out but Donna just shrugs again and throws back the last of her whiskey sour. That woman can drink, I tell you. “Come dance with me.” I tug on her arm and she reluctantly follows me to the dance floor. I pull her into my arms so I can hold her tight to me while we sway to the music. I’ve waited so long to hold her like this in front of people.

“When Amy was talking to me? All I could think about was finding you so we could do this.” I whisper in her ear.

“That’s all you were thinking about?” She says skeptically.

“I was also thinking a little about our date later, but mostly it was about this right here.” I tell her and a couple more flashes go off in the corner.

“What’s all the commotion?” She asks and I can’t hold back a chuckle.

“CJ and Danny are having their first date.” I twirl her around so she can see the media tagging along on CJ’s date with Danny. She turns back to face me.

“Did YOU do that?” She accuses.

“Donna, you know how disorganized I am without you. How could I possibly put together a media frenzy for their date?” I ask all innocently.

“She’s looking pretty red over there, Joshua. I’m thinking whoever IS responsible is going to get an earful all the way home at the very least.”

“Then good thing we’re not going home with CJ.” I announce and her face turns puzzled. I pull out two first class tickets from Boston to DC for tomorrow. “Leo’s giving us the day off tomorrow. As… unique as our first official date was, I thought we could try for a do over.”

“These tickets are first class… and they’re for tomorrow night?”

“I’ve got plans for us Donnatella.” I kiss her, “Big, beautiful, romantic plans.”

“Really?” Her eyes get big and kind of misty. I’ve decided it’s my goal in life to put that look in her eyes as often as humanly possible.

“Really,” I confirm. “We’re going to start with an evening at a bed and breakfast, followed by a trip tomorrow to the damn aquarium.”

“A whole whale Josh,” She repeats and I laugh.

“I think I heard something about that.” I confess. “20 hours just for us Donnatella. Then after the aquarium, a romantic dinner alone before boarding our first class seats to go home where I hope to entice you to  
spend the night with me.”

“At this point, I’d say your odds are pretty good, but it’s early yet and you know how long 20 hours can last.” She warns me.

“20 hours is just the beginning, Donnatella. Are you ready to go?”

“More than,” She smiles and it nearly blinds me. I throw my arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the event. We walk past the CJ and Danny show where Danny makes a point of waving goodbye to us. CJ’s eyes narrow on me, but when I wink at her, she winks back so while she may be a teensy bit embarrassed by all the hoopla, she’ll be over it by the time Donna and I get back to D.C… I’m almost sure of it.

I help Donna into a cab and jump in after her. The kiss she gives me when I join her is absolutely combustible. Yeah… 20 hours isn’t going to be nearly enough time to spend with her. Looks like my days of being stranded and striking out are over.

The End.


End file.
